Monday, March 21, 2011

Sunday, March 20, 2011

While I cannot say I am sorry to see it go all together, I am kind of glad. I love having Duncan home with me, but like the rhythm and routine of the school week. It was a demanding week, but not in any way a bad one.

Monday - I took Duncan to meet up with two of his favorite cousins to play at Ellen's out in Cedar Hill. He hardly looked back or waited for the van to come to a complete stop when I dropped him off. Claire and Finn and I went back to my sister's for a bit, then went to go pick up Duncan at about dinner time and came on home. Iain was still here, and got to spend some time with Duncan before bed.

Tuesday - Iain left early. What did the kids and I do? I honestly can't remember. I am sitting here trying to, but can't. This is not good. Surely we did something. Oh yes. Okay, it's all coming back to me. Duncan went to the Dallas Zoo for their spring break zoo camp with some friends. I dropped him off at about 8:45, so that my friend could drive them all down there, then came home with Claire and Finn. The three of us did nothing remarkable or exciting. By 3:15 it was time to head down to the zoo to pick up Duncan and his two buddies and deliver them to their parents. Got three kids in my way back seat (hurrah!) and got everyone home safely. This is where things go south for a bit. Duncan told me his tummy hurt after he ate and before he went to bed. You know how you have those little red flags that go up, but at the time you just wish them away/ignore them? And then later in retrospect, you realize how it was not a little red flag after all but was a HUGE RED FLAG? Yes, me too. I put him to bed, knowing how tired he was from the zoo. Then around 11:30 I heard the puking. It was all over the bedding and him, so I go into crisis mode. Get him to the potty, quickly. Get him a wet wash cloth (cuz that's what my mom always did), then strip the bed and get some clean makeshift bedding on there. Get him back in the bed, get him a "recepticle", put 1/2 the puke bedding on the front porch (thinking clearly? maybe not....but let's go with it) and get some of it in the washing machine. Say a little prayer of gratitude for my sanitize cycle. We had two more brief episodes of sick during the night. No one got much sleep.

Wednesday - Slow day. Duncan stayed on the couch most of the day and I spent most of it praying I would not get sick. No one else did. Everyone went to bed early.

Thursday - Everyone feels good! I had a woman coming over to help me stage the house to get it ready to sell. She came in and started rearranging furniture and telling me what to do. It was for the most part really helpful and when she left I felt totally drained and overwhelmed, but the house looked great and I knew what was on my to do list. Among other things, no pillow cases - only shams. Bigger is better. Prospective buyers do not look to see clocks. Apparently, finding out what time it is can be a shock. Hurried her out the door after her hour was up and got everyone down for some rest time. Reatlor came at 2:00 and left me feeling even more drained and overwhelmed. After she left, packed all the kids in the van and went to the park. That lasted about an hour, and it was really hot. Came home, ate, bathed kids and again put them all to bed. Exhausted. Drained. But still not vomiting!! Hurray!

Friday - Another big day for Duncan! Poor Finn and Claire. Just riding in the van with mom. We left for Duncanville early, and met my cousin Donna (who had taken all the boys on Monday, too) at a park. Left D with her, and went to my sister's to wait out the morning. I knew the twins would not nap at her house, so when it was time to go pick up D after lunch, I just packed them in the van and we all came back home. I was so grateful that they did not fall asleep on the way home. And even more grateful that they went down for a half decent nap when we did get home, around 2:00. Rest of the evening...not too exciting, but fun. Outside, play, bed.

All of a sudden am feeling like I've got a cold and am really tired! Oh no! Must go to bed. Pics tomorrow!

Thursday, March 10, 2011

Today I went to King Spa with a gift certificate that Iain got me for my birthday. I will preface this post by saying there was alot of naked nakedness. If you think, "I wonder if she was naked during that", chances are I was. Am I'm okay with that. Not that any of you sit around wondering about my nakedness, but I think it's pertitent to the story. And then we shall never speak of it again.

I started out my morning with a great new haircut. You know how it always looks extra good when your stylist blows it out? Yeah, that lasted about an hour and a half. After my hair cut I went straight to the spa. I drove under the giraffe gate (there are three giant giraffes on top of the gate that you drive through to get there), parked my minivan and walked in. Very clean, very pretty. Very friendly staff. They gave me a key on a wrist thingie, told me to take off my shoes, grab a pair of pink shorts and tee shirt and go to the ladies' locker room. Once in there, another very nice lady showed me my locker for my shoes and another bigger locker for my clothes. She then brought me a large towel, and told me they are free the first time but after today would cost me $2. I did not see anyone else with a big towel. Most of the ladies in there were Korean, but there was a group of women that I guessed were mommy friends having a day to themselves, all in their pink shorts and tee shirts, leaving the wet area as I was arriving. As soon as I was "ready" I was told to go into the wet sauna area and to shower before I did anything else. I walked through two large frosted glass doors into a very large room that had at least 30 showers, all with soap and shampoo, three large hot tubs of varying degrees, a cold pool, a more traditional wet sauna, and a row of pink massage tables behind some frost glass partitions with images of Homer and Marge Simpson on them. I kid you not. At this point, many thoughts are going through my head but mostly, "go with it." So I did. I got into the least hot of the hot tubs and was the only one in there. It was not very crowded and most of the ladies kept to themselves doing whatever.

I had about 45 minutes until my body scrub and massage so I soaked for a bit longer then put on my pink outfit and left the safety of the ladies locker room and explored the common areas. There was a place to eat, and many rooms that were different saunas with different types of walls (amethyst, gold, other minerals, salt, etc...) Really interesting. I sat and read my Living Oprah book until it was time for my body scrub. My great friend Marjorie has gone to King Spa before. She is half Korean, and has gone with her mom for these body scrubs so I had some idea of what was coming. I got on one of the pink tables behind the Simpson wall, while an older Korean lady in leopard underwear (seriously) started scrubbing my skin with these mitts made of some kind of silk which felt like sandpaper. It didn't hurt...and actually felt really good. Every once in a while she would douse me with a bucket of hot water, to wash off the dead skin that was quickly accumulating on the table. I only opened my eyes every once in a while, for many reasons, but when I did was immediately sorry because I would catch a glimpse of what she was sloughing off. This body scrub is not for the modest. I've never had anything waxed, but I imagine it's a similar experience. And that's all we'll say about that.

The scrub lasted about thirty minutes. I was then told to shower and given some Olay body wash to use. Leopard Mama cleaned the table and got it ready for my Korean massage. Marjorie told me she thought they would go easy on my since I am a blonde haired white chick, but I'm not so sure. She pounded on me like a piece of chicken. Or cube steak. At one point, I thought, "is she mad at me? Did I not use the Olay wash correctly?" Then, while I was lying on my stomach, I realized she had climbed up on the table and was standing on the soles of my feet. Kind of jumping, kind of stomping. I also should add that all of the pounding and kneading was done with hot towels. She would put a hot towel on my back, and pound/knead my back. Same for arms, legs, etc..

This lasted an hour and I have to tell you, when it was all over it was amazing. I don't know if I've ever felt that relaxed. I showered, got dressed, got my shoes, turned in my key and drove off, basking in the glow of my King Spa experience. If you have an adventurous side, I would highly suggest it!